3 Must Haves to Master Data-Driven Marketing Excellence (Part 1)

This blog post was authored jointly by Jim Davis, CMO of Informatica and by Rishi Dave, CMO of Dun & Bradstreet. This is the first in a three part series on Data-Driven Marketing.

The Best Marketing Strategy Includes A Data Strategy: Part 1, Integrated Data2>

CMOs have long viewed data as critically important to planning, executing and measuring the ROI of a marketing strategy. But now, the focus on data is greater than ever. We’re living in the age of data – with more than four zetabytes of data in our digital universe – and 11 times that amount expected by 2020.

With so much data available, the challenge for marketers lies in getting a handle on the right data to understand and engage with customers and prospects along their buyer’s journey in a personalized, relevant way.

Jim Davis, CMO Informatica and Rishi Dave, CMO Dun & Bradstreet, recently sat down with Kathleen Schaub, Vice President, IDC CMO Advisory Services, to talk about why data quality should be top of mind for marketers. During their conversation, Rishi and Jim agreed on three mission-critical enablers that CMOs need to master for data–driven marketing excellence: integrated data, collaboration and process.

Data-Savvy CMOs Discuss Why Data Quality Matters

In this first of a three-part blog series, Jim and Rishi will share more about why integrated data is the foundation for great quality data.

One glaring finding was that only 16% of marketers reported that their data quality was very good or excellent.

Jim Davis of Informatica“Think about the reverse of that,” Jim said in reaction to the stat. “84 percent responded that they can’t trust the data. It doesn’t really matter how good your folks are, and how great your software is, and how great your processes are. If you’re not able to process that data in such a way that you can really hone in on who they (your customers) are and what they want, they’re not going to do business with you.”

When thinking about data quality, Rishi stressed the need to first identify what data is needed before defining what “good data” means. Knowing the goals for growth and the intended audience helps define the data needed to accomplish marketing objectives. Then ask the data quality question. Data quality means many things, including fundamentals like accuracy, completeness, timeliness, global consistency and relevance.

Rishi Dave of D&BBut having the right data is only the beginning; the data has to be integrated into an information architecture that makes it accessible across the enterprise. By natively integrating Dun & Bradstreet’s commercial data and insights into Informatica’s data integration, data quality and MDM solutions, the two partners deliver the information marketers need within their Informatica solutions and workflows.

“CMOs can then build the right analytics to architect the right experiences for their described personas, based on their own strategy,” Rishi said. “That’s what really excites me about data quality. It’s at the core of how companies can differentiate and grow, led by marketing.”

What’s Next?

Stay tuned for the second blog about the central role that collaboration plays in achieving a great data-driven marketing strategy.